CHICHESTER. latio:" but nothing is said about the church, which would most probably have been mentioned had it been entirely burnt down; nor indeed is it probable that such massy pillars and arches could have been destroyed by fire. From these circumstances it appears, that the structure of the present church was at the latest begun by bishop Ralph; although from the circumstance of his death so soon after the fire in 1114, he might not have lived to finish it entirely, or to dedicate it. The plain round arches and the pouchheaded pillars cannot certainly have been in use much later than his time. Sefrid II. only made the repairs above mentioned, with the exception of the vaulting and the space between the altar screen, and the entrance into the lady chapel, by which space it is easy to perceive the cathedral has been lengthened with work, the style of which goes farther into the thirteenth century: in this part the arches of the lower triforium are gorgeously ornamented with different devices, and the upper windows, which, as before mentioned, are circular throughout the rest of the church, are here pointed. These repairs and the additional buildings we may therefore infer, were carried on by bishop Aquila (a prelate of great private possessions, and of a noble family in this county), and completed by bishop Poore, who was the greatest builder of his age, and whose munificence is conspicuous in his having laid the foundation of the magnificent church of Salisbury, which he was only prevented from completing by his speedy translation to Durham, a circumstance which took place in the year 1218. He CHICHESTER, had procured the pope's bull to remove the cathedral from Old Sarum to the Vale, at which time he erected a wooden chapel, and consecrated three altars for the performance of divine service, until the completion of the church. The dedication of the church by Seffrid, taken notice of in the Annals of Winchester, does not militate against the assertion, that the repairs were not finished by him; for if bishop Ralph died without dedicating the church, which as above mentioned he probably did, it may be supposed that Seffrid dedicated it as soon as some part of it was sufficiently finished to admit of the performance of service in it. No subsequent alterations have taken place in the church, excepting the insertion of the large west window and those in the north and south transcepts; the latter of these, which is certainly for elegance of tracery and justness of proportion equal to any window in England, was erected by bishop Langton, early in the fourteenth century; it is justly styled in the table of the bishops, erected by bishop Shurborne, "Magnam, et sumptuosam fenestram, australem, ecclesiæ Cicestrensis; and indeed bishop Langton expended the sum of £310 in erecting and glazing this window with painted glass, which remained unhurt till destroyed by the fanatics in the great rebellion. The same venerable prelate built the bishop's chapter-house, and gave £100 towards the repairs of the church, part of which it is probable was employed in the erection of the opposite window in the north transcept, which is of the |